new tires vs new fe suspension

[Mercedes Fred]

had the front end of my 88 300e inspected, and the mechanic perscribed replacing all the rubber consumables such tierods ends, bushings, sway bar kits etc. for a reasonable amount ($800 canadian) but also said that new tires would be a better investment as its such a heavy car, should have excellent tires.

Sinc then i talked to a friend who works at dupont (chemist) who cliams that the quality of the rubber is very high in the mb; that in fact the rubber compnents in the front end were deteriorating by expanding, not crumbling and that this maintains a tight suspension that also increases the life of the rubber materials used

therefore, i should have matching rubber on the road. however, im tempted to do both suspension and new tires.

[euronatura]

Mercedes Fred:

You do not mention the mileage that you have on the car or if you have any problems with the suspension/steering or if any of these parts were changed before.

But, what I can tell you from a personal perspective (not technical) is that I recently changed the tires on my 88 190e with 150k miles on it. From what I have read on this forum, the age and mileage of my car made it a prime candidate to get all of this done. The difference is very noticible. I started with the tie rods and the sway bar bushings. Then this past week I noticed that one of the ball joints was bad so I had both replaced. While there, I had the bushings on the control arm replaced also.

If you are looking into this also have the stering dampener (?) checked. What I can tell you is that I now feel that the car is more stable at higher speeds and the feel of the steering is back to what I feel a Mercedes should feel like.

Iggy